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Consumer Delivery - Part 3 - Set It Up

Furniture World Magazine

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As long as you're there, you might as well...

Take a common expression: "As long as you're up . . ." Paraphrase it: "As long as you're there, set it up." And you have a delivery idea that pays off three ways.

One-stop delivery and set-up:

  • Improves customer relations.
  • Cuts administrative costs.
  • Boosts employee morale.

The customer who buys a piece that needs setting up-a canopy bed, say, that arrives in 16 parts or a fragile glass art table-will usually want you to do the job to be sure it's done right.

If you set up "as long as you're there," your customer can start enjoying her new furniture within minutes after it arrives. She won't have a lot of furniture parts cluttering her home for days or even weeks. And she won't have to hang around waiting for your service people to show up.

You'll eliminate paperwork and simplify your administrative operation.

You'll also be able to schedule your service crews more efficiently to take care of complicated set-ups.

Delivery crews welcome the idea of simple set-ups too. They not only upgrade their jobs-they up their incomes.

The range of what in-house and contract delivery services consider simple set-ups keeps expanding. Many stores now set up everything from canopy to sleigh, island, platform and bunk beds as routinely as the basic box spring and mattress set. They also attach headboards, set up etageres and wall units and often will assemble comparatively inexpensive knockdown pieces

Complicated set-ups should of course be left to your own or contract service people with the necessary skills. And some set-ups shouldn't be touched by you at all.

A set-up that requires product alteration can lead to serious problems. The same goes for putting holes in walls and hanging mirrors and pictures. If they fall someday, you could be held liable.

Area rugs are simple enough to lay down-but lay them down rolled up. The minute your men start moving a customer's furniture, you run the risk of something being damaged.

As long as the set-up is a simple one that can be done "as long as you're there," it pays to do it. You'll close sales on the brightest possible note-for yourself and your men as well as for your customers.